Serbs advance on rebel village

EXAMINER NEWS SERVICES

Published 4:00 am, Friday, July 31, 1998

1998-07-31 04:00:00 PDT KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA -- BELGRADE - Serbian forces were closing in on a guerrilla bastion in the far west of Kosovo on Friday, despite a pledge by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic that a major offensive against ethnic Albanian separatists was over.

Both sides in Kosovo's bloody conflict said Serbian forces were threatening the village of Junik, a stronghold of the secessionist Kosovo Liberation Army close to the border with northern Albania.

Serbian offwcials said the town was held by only a few dozen guerrillas. Ethnic Albanians said there were thousands of civilians in the village.

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The move against Junik comes at the end of a weeklong offensive by government forces that has recaptured much of Kosovo from the KLA.

By one government estimate the KLA now controls just 10 percent of Kosovo compared with as much as 50 percent a week ago.

International observers believe that at least 500 people have died and 150,000 have been displaced in the past five months; the latest offensive has uprooted an estimated 20,000.

Milosevic told a European Union delegation Thursday that the offensive had ended and again offered to begin talks on the future of the province if the Albanians can organize a negotiating team.

Before their meeting with Milosevic, members of the EU delegation traveled to villages targeted in the offensive to assess the level of destruction.

"We were shocked by what we saw. It gives the clear impression of an excessive use of military force," Austrian diplomat Albert Rohan said.

Wolfgang Ischinger, the German representative, said the Serb attacks had created "a wasteland."

U.S. and European diplomats have been trying for months to arrange peace talks involving Ibrahim Rugova, the most prominent Albanian leader. But Rugova's opposition to violence has angered the KLA, which has refused to accept his leadership. Thursday, State Department spokesman James Rubin said Serb intimidation of civilians in Kosovo was making it difficult for U.S. envoy Christopher Hill to